Hierarchical competing inhibition circuits govern motor stability in C. elegans

Yongning Zhang, Yunzhu Shi, Kanghua Zeng, Lili Chen and Shangbang Gao ()
Additional contact information
Yongning Zhang: Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Yunzhu Shi: Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Kanghua Zeng: Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Lili Chen: Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Shangbang Gao: Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Abstract Stable movement and efficient motor transition are both crucial for animals to navigate their environments, yet the neural principles underlying these abilities are not fully understood. In free-moving Caenorhabditis elegans, sustained forward locomotion is occasionally interrupted by backward movements, which are believed to result from reciprocal inhibition between the interneurons AVB and AVA. Here, we discovered that hierarchical competing inhibition circuits stabilize spontaneous movement and ensure motor transition. We found that the modulatory interneuron PVP activated AVB to maintain forward locomotion while inhibiting AVA to prevent backward movement. Another interneuron, DVC activates AVA and forms a disinhibition circuit that inhibits PVP, thereby relieving PVP’s inhibition of AVA and facilitating backward movement. Notably, these asymmetrical circuit motifs create a higher-order competing inhibition that likely sharpens the motor transition. We also identified cholinergic and glutamatergic synaptic mechanisms underlying these circuits. This study elucidates a key neural principle that controls motor stability in C. elegans.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59668-4 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-59668-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59668-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().